John Williams - The Empire Strikes Back: Original Soundtrack (1980)

Note: This release was originally given to me as a 2 LP set, later replaced by a CD (sorta). The CD I listened to was the very first CD issue, pressed in (then) West Germany for the international market.

A great soundtrack from the best movie of the ever expanding Star Wars saga. We not only get the famous theme from the original 1977 movie, we also are treated to a new Vader's theme - officially titled 'The Imperial March' - plus an immediately recognizable motif for my favorite SW character, Yoda. Yes, Williams borrows a lot from himself and Gustav Holst's The Planets, but it all comes together quite nicely and, in the end, who cares where he gets his inspiration? The score won the Grammy award for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score, eventually losing to Michael Gore's score for Fame.

I've written before about my youthful desire to become a film composer; perhaps this soundtrack was the impetus?

Press of the time:

• High Fidelity: "a more complex and functional score"
  
• CashBox: "thoroughly engrossing soundtrack"
• Record World: "you're swept away"
• Billboard: "in the same vein as its predecessor"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #4
• CashBox: #6
• Rolling Stone: #18

Tracks: Outside the US, Canada, & Japan, this soundtrack was initially released as a 10 track single LP, a condensed version of the 17 track double LP I originally owned. This CD, however, follows that condensed 10 track sequence and clocks in around 42 minutes in length.

	Intl.		US
1	The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)	1	Star Wars (Main Theme)
2	Yoda's Theme	2	Yoda's Theme
3	The Asteroid Field	3	The Training Of A Jedi Knight
4	Han Solo And The Princess (Love Theme)	4	The Heroics Of Luke & Han
5	Finale	5	The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)
6	Star Wars (Main Theme)	6	Departure Of Boba Fett
7	The Training Of A Jedi Knight	7	Han Solo And The Princess (Love Theme)
8	Yoda And The Force	8	Hyperspace
9	The Duel	9	The Battle In The Snow
10	The Battle In The Snow	10	The Asteroid Field
		11	The City In The Clouds
		12	Rebels At Bay
		13	Yoda And the Force
		14	The Duel
		15	The Magic Tree
		16	Lando's Place
		17	Finale

While this isn't the familiar sequence and length I grew up with, I prefer this disc's condensed version. It's the perfect length for my nostalgic needs plus it starts off with Imperial March and Yoda.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I wouldn't consider myself a Star Wars fanatic (I've maybe seen 5 of the movies), but I've owned this 2" Yoda figure since 1980 - he even went to college with me.

I think he once had a cane?

My mother gave me the 2 LP set of this soundtrack for Christmas, 1980 and I listened to it often. It is only one of three times I can remember her buying a recording for me (the others were Barry Manilow's If I Should Love Again and, many years later, a CD by Pete Townshend & Raphael Rudd, which has since been misplaced).

And I am always on the lookout for this interpretation of the score by the likes of Ron Carter, Jon Faddis, Hubert Laws, Bob James, Billy Cobham, and Ralph MacDonald. For a physical copy, I'll have to look for a "vintage" vinyl copy to purchase as it has never been reissued on CD, but there's always hope.

One wonders what Lord Vader thinks about improvisation.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Joy To The World (1992)
JFK Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)
By Request (1987)